PG&E, Google Launch Virtual Power Plant Program in Bay Area

PG&E, Rewiring America, and Google have launched a virtual power plant (VPP) program called SHARE to test the locational value of customer-sited resources in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The initiative will deploy flexible capacity from thousands of existing home batteries and smart devices, as well as new battery-enabled Carrier heat pumps. The goal is to reach approximately 12 MW of capacity by 2028.

PG&E customers in Santa Clara and Alameda counties can receive subsidized Carrier heat pumps with a discount of at least $5,000 toward installation, while existing distributed energy resource owners will be invited to join the program from a pool of customers of Sunrun, Tesla, and Renew Home.

The VPP will operate through PG&E's DERMS platform, issuing dispatch instructions and measuring performance. The utility plans to use the program to test the locational value of customer-sited resources, with both enrollment of existing home energy devices and regional development of privately funded new technologies structured around specific regional grid needs.